Elton John speaks at International AIDS Conference

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Check it out.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nbc-news/48288612/?__utma=14933801.2146932617.1343100211.1343100211.1343100211.1&__utmb=14933801.1.10.1343100211&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1343100211.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|utmccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=143833525#48288612

[rocks 494]

Good video. Didn't know he had a son.

"You're ill? I'll be ill one day too"

Says it all about healthcare in general.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Good video. Didn't know he had a son.

"You're ill? I'll be ill one day too"

Says it all about healthcare in general.

I think it well worth watching regardless of where you stand on homosexuality. It is relevant to more than just AIDS.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

It's a shame most here won't watch it.

[rocks 494]

I think it well worth watching regardless of where you stand on homosexuality. It is relevant to more than just AIDS.

Definitely. It is an important issue to the whole world. I thought those statements about love could apply to healthcare in general. People need to think more about the issues that go on around them rather than only caring about themselves. That's what I took from it anyway.

[Danno 1,228]

link just took me to comments about the vid.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

link just took me to comments about the vid.

I just checked it and it still works.

[kytwell 179]

Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Elton John once called President George W. Bush "the worst thing that ever happened to America." But in an interview with ABC News/Yahoo! Power Players series, Sir Elton offers a different description of Bush: The U.S. President who has done most to fight AIDS.

Asked directly what President has done more than any other to combat AIDS, John answered without hesitation: "George Bush."

Elton John, who has been a leading activist on AIDS issues since the 1980s, gives President Bush credit for launching the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) a $15 billion program Bush signed into law in 2004 to provide treatment and prevention for millions of HIV-infected people in Africa.

Prior to that, John had been among President Bush's harshest and most acerbic critics.

"I wasn't a big fan of his policies," John said. "I was very against the Iraq war. So, you know, his policies didn't sit well with mine."

But not long after Bush launched his anti-AIDS effort, Elton John had a chance to meet him in person. The occasion was the 2004 Kennedy Center Honors.

"At the Kennedy Center concert we spent some time in the intermission with the President, George Bush, and he was an amazingly informed about AIDS," John recounted. "He treated us with such kindness. I had so much respect for him, especially when the PEPFAR thing was announced when he gave 15 billion dollars to AIDS. He knew what he was talking about."

Politics aside, personal interaction caused John to change his view of Bush.

"One of the old adages in life is never judge someone until you meet them," John said. "I didn't like his policies but I have to say when I met him, I found him charming, I found him well informed and I found him determined to do something about the AIDS situation so I changed my opinion of him. And his wife was astonishingly kind to us well. So it was -- I learned a lesson."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/elton-john-george-w-bush-taught-lesson-040430553.html